JUST A SHOE

Santa Clara, California

Recently, as I was studying the book of Ruth in preparation for a lecture in Old Testament Survey, something arrested my attention that I had never noticed before—a shoe. That’s right, a shoe caught my attention. It was the shoe of the near kinsman who could have bought Naomi’s property and married Ruth. When he heard that Ruth came with the deal, he declined, because he was already married. He encouraged Boaz to do the part of the kinsman, and Boaz gladly obliged.

What a beautiful story! An older man living comfortably in the midst of his great wealth and surrounded by his servants is still single. We don’t know how many times he might have nearly gotten married. Perhaps his heart had been broken a time or two by some fair maiden whose head was turned by another man. Regardless, he lived alone, no doubt aching for companionship. A young widow is so dedicated to her mother-in-law that she makes one of the most startling vows ever recorded in all of human history.

Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God: Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.

Though this is quoted and sung very beautifully at weddings, Ruth said this to her mother-in-law. Amazing!

This young widow, realizing that she and her mother-in-law would starve to death if she did not do something about it, went out to glean in the fields. God led her to the field of Boaz, the wealthy land-owner, who happened to be single and a near kinsman to boot (if she were to keep her vow to follow Naomi’s God, she could only marry a near kinsman to her deceased husband). Boaz is immediately impressed with her work ethic and her humble, selfless attitude. He directs his men to let fall “handfuls of purpose” for Ruth. In other words, “If you see that Ruth is gleaning behind you, drop some extra on purpose!”Ruth goes home with so much barley that Naomi is amazed.

When Naomi finds out where Ruth came upon such bounty, she immediately sets about a match-making scheme that actually calls for Ruth to propose to Boaz.  Boaz is flattered that this wonderful, young woman is interested in him, but told Ruth that she would have to wait until he could conduct the official transaction in the gate of the city. There was also one kinsman who was nearer than he, and Boaz would have to give him the right of first refusal on the land and the wife.

The near kinsman forgoes his right to the land and to Ruth because he is already married. To signify his decision, as was their custom, he removed his shoe and gave it to Boaz. Of course, Boaz and Ruth got married and they lived happily ever after, and that is the best part of the story, but I started thinking about the shoe.

What happened to that shoe? Perhaps I am a little too sentimental, but I imagined that the shoe would have been very important to Boaz. It was likely somewhat worn, perhaps it was old, and tattered, and dusty. But it held a tremendous significance for Boaz and Ruth. It meant that their relationship was possible. I imagined that it would have been placed on a shelf somewhere in their home as a reminder of all God had done to bring them together. I could see it, an ornate hutch in the grand entryway with expensive china and silver place settings, a hunting trophy or two, and an old shoe. “What’s with the old shoe?”a guest might ask. “That’s Reuben’s shoe. He was the nearest kinsman to Naomi, but gave the privilege to me.”

I believe that there are some major turning points in life that deserve special recognition and need to be memorialized with special reminders. There are several memorials set aside in Scripture. In the Old Testament, the children of Israel placed twelve stones in the Jordan River and twelve more along the banks, so the generations to come would remember their crossing just before the battle of Jericho. In the New Testament, Jesus instituted the elements of the Lord’s Supper as a memorial of His sacrificial death for us.

There are several events in my life that I try to remember every day. I want to keep them fresh in my mind. My salvation experience is one of them. I still have my New Testament that I used as a boy and I take it out and look at my dad’s handwriting in the front, commemorating the day that I received Christ as my Savior.

I suppose it is possible to be too sentimental, but there are some things that need to be remembered. Usually something simple can serve as a reminder. In my office, I have reminders from several trips that I have taken. The simplest (and the most special to me) is a small stone. I picked it up on a trip that my wife and I took some years ago now, but every time I see that small stone, I remember with great fondness the wonderful time that we shared together on that trip.

Do you have reminders that you have put in place to keep some event, decision, or relationship constantly before you? If not, maybe you could start with a shoe!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brad Boruff is the President of Golden State Baptist College. He also directs the music and teaches the Calvary Couples Class at North Valley Baptist Church. He is the author of the book King of Kings.

The FBI is offering rewards

FIDEL URBINA

Multimedia: Images

Aliases:

Lorenzo Maes, Fernando Ramos, Fidel Bahena, Fidel Urbina Aguirre, Lorenzo Fidel, Lorenzo M. Maes, Marcos Antonio, Victor Urbina, "Tonorio"

DESCRIPTION

Date(s) of Birth Used: April 24, 1975; June 7, 1975; June 26, 1980 Place of Birth: Mexico Height: 5'11" to 6'1" Weight: 165 to 175 pounds NCIC: W420029084	Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Sex: Male Race: White (Hispanic)

Scars and Marks:	Urbina has scars (pock marks/acne) on his right cheek.
Remarks:	Urbina may be residing in Durango, Mexico. He also has ties to the Chicago, Illinois, area.

CAUTION

Fidel Urbina is wanted for allegedly beating and raping a woman in March of 1998. While out on bond, he also allegedly beat, raped and strangled a second woman to death in October of 1998. Her body was later found in the trunk of a vehicle that had been burned. Both crimes occurred in Chicago, Illinois.

REWARD

The FBI is offering a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading directly to the arrest of Fidel Urbina.

SHOULD BE CONSIDERED ARMED AND DANGEROUS

If you have any information concerning this person, please contact your local FBI office or the nearest American Embassy or Consulate.

Field Office: Chicago

Right to Work is Part of Economic Liberty

Lake Jackson, Texas

Many observers were surprised when Michigan, historically a stronghold of union power, became the nation’s 24th “Right to Work” state. The backlash from November’s unsuccessful attempt to pass a referendum forbidding the state from adopting a right to work law was a major factor in Michigan’s rejection of compulsory unionism. The need for drastic action to improve Michigan’s economy, which is suffering from years of big government policies, also influenced many Michigan legislators to support right to work.

Let us be clear: right to work laws simply prohibit coercion. They prevent states from forcing employers to operate as closed union shops, and thus they prevent unions from forcing individuals to join. In many cases right to work laws are the only remedy to federal laws which empower union bosses to impose union dues as a condition of employment.

Right to work laws do not prevent unions from bargaining collectively with employers, and they do not prevent individuals from forming or joining unions if they believe it will benefit them. Despite all the hype, right to work laws merely enforce the fundamental right to control one’s own labor.

States with right to work laws enjoy greater economic growth and a higher standard of living than states without such laws. According to the National Institute for Labor Relations Research, from 2001-2011 employment in right to work states grew by 2.4%, while employment in union states fell by 3.4%! During the same period wages rose by 12.5% in right to work states, while rising by a mere 3.1% in union states. Clearly, “Right to Work” is good for business and labor.

Workers are best served when union leaders have to earn their membership and dues by demonstrating the benefits they provide. Instead, unions use government influence and political patronage. The result is bad laws that force workers to subsidize unions and well-paid union bosses.

Of course government should not regulate internal union affairs, or interfere in labor disputes for the benefit of employers. Government should never forbid private-sector workers from striking. Employees should be free to join unions or not, and employers should be able to bargain with unions or not. Labor, like all goods and services, is best allocated by market forces rather than the heavy, restrictive hand of government.  Voluntarism works.

Federal laws forcing employees to pay union dues as a condition of getting or keeping a job are blatantly unconstitutional. Furthermore, Congress does not have the moral authority to grant a private third party the right to interfere in private employment arrangements. No wonder polls report that 80 percent of the American people believe compulsory union laws need to be changed.

Unions’ dirty little secret is that real wages cannot rise unless productivity rises. American workers cannot improve their standard of living simply by bullying employers with union tactics. Instead, employers, employees, and unions must recognize that only market mechanisms can signal employment needs and wage levels in any industry. Profits or losses from capital investment are not illusions that can be overcome by laws or regulations; they are real-world signals that directly affect wages and employment opportunities. Union advocates can choose to ignore reality, but they cannot overcome the basic laws of economics.

As always, the principle of liberty will provide the most prosperous society possible. Right to work laws are a positive step toward economic liberty.

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas

Who is Ron Paul?

Big Boy Pants

Big Boy Pants

Congratulations Idaho Democrats you have successfully stymied another conservative Governor into retreat with only 20 of 105 legislative seats and nobody in the executive branch.  Although I believe your politics are closer to Marx than Madison, I must commend you for never changing your spots.  Your party has progressively moved America and Idaho away from small government and low taxes to a fully implemented nanny state. Your support of big government, higher taxes and cradle to grave social programs have succeeded in leaving your comrades on the other side of the aisle waving white hankies of surrender each time free markets and constitutionality are threatened.  So how is it that you’ve been able to wrench the mantle of liberty from these so called conservative constitutional loving Republicans?  Maybe it’s because, most Republicans are big government, higher taxes and cradle to grave social program supporters.  Maybe, Republicans should drop the façade and own up to the fact that they too support all those free money; kick the can down the road policies that Democrats do.  The only difference seems that Republicans bandy about the state speaking about free markets, smaller government and lower taxes while simultaneously supporting government subsidies, tax credits, various task forces that investigate and then legislate more government programs and tax policies that favor some and skewer others.

Although I am fundamentally opposed to Democratic/Socialistic policies and their dogma I am no longer willing to be duped by milk toast conservatives either who speak with forked tongue.  It’s time to wear big boy pants now and what a great opportunity for many a Republican to prove they’ve got a spine by voting down state health care exchanges. Would that be too far afield of the Republican platform?

Republicans, don’t let Governor Otter’s abdication of responsibility condemn your future political careers.  It isn’t as if you’d be sticking your neck out too far to quash the hand of those power hungry establishment types. President Obama’s compassionate need to opiate the masses with federally mandated state controlled healthcare has already been nullified by 28 states.

http://www.newsmax.com/US/healthcare-exchanges-insurance/2012/12/13/id/467652  

Republicans, if you wish to remain an independent political party stop acting like the ninny and coward branch of the Democratic Party.  Figure out what you mean when you say you’re conservative and stand by your guns.

In Liberty,

Darr Moon

IFF RESPONDS TO GOV. OTTER’S EXCHANGE DECISION

Idaho Freedom Foundation Executive Director Wayne Hoffman issued the following statement on Gov. Butch Otter’s decision to create a state health insurance exchange:

“I have a great deal of respect for my friend, Gov. Otter. However, I strongly disagree with his decision. More than 20 states have indicated that they will not implement a state exchange. States are opposed because they understand that Obamacare depends entirely on states to implement it. States are opposed because they know that a state exchange affords almost no flexibility and makes states co-owners of the looming disaster in medicine: higher insurance premiums, more expensive medical care, reduced accessibility and worse patient outcomes. Gov. Otter’s decision makes the national effort of resistance much more difficult and more likely the law will remain in place, at great cost to Idaho families, businesses and our nation’s economic vitality. Idaho Freedom Foundation will do everything it can, along with other opponents of Obamacare, to make sure Idaho never implements this destructive law.”

Idaho Freedom Foundation
(208) 258-2280
www.IdahoFreedom.net

Say It Ain't So ...

From Idaho Chooses Life

Governor Butch Otter publicly threw in with his with friend Bill Deal and key allies at IACI to support creation of a state insurance exchange.  They persuaded him, despite an absence of objective fact or clear congressional authority, that Idaho would be best served by "being at the table".

Governor Otter correctly states that the federal take-over of health care is "onerous, unwiedly and fraught with unknowns".

What he fails to cite is an objective basis for concluding that Idaho will have any real impact on the specifics of how ObamaCare is implemented, or how much it costs the taxpayers and businesses of Idaho.  The claim by proponents that a state-based exchange is the ticket to protecting Idaho's rights seems the definition of circular reasoning: The only way a state exchange will qualify for federal approval is if it meets the demands of the federal government.

It would seem the best that Idaho might hope for is the kind of "flexibility" we are granted by the feds in running Medicaid: You take our money, you take our rules.

Otter's decision is a real disappointment.  He had the chance to join some 20 other states in defying the federal government's demand that he submit to this disastrous and immoral scheme.  With his leadership, Idaho might have pushed the cart toward a critical mass of defiance - whereby the federal government would be faced with a majority of states unwilling to put their credibility and public credit at risk.  Now the most Republican state in the Union has surrendered to Obama, giving the president a serious public relations boost.  That is downright discouraging.

In fairness to Governor Otter, it has been abundantly clear that he does not support ObamaCare and harbors great reservations about his decision.

Nevertheless, the bottom line is that the cry for "states' rights" has been reduced - once again - to mere rhetoric, suitable for discussion at conservative gatherings, but nothing worth going to battle over.  The price of liberty, it seems, has gotten too expensive.

Our understanding is that Otter has directed Bill Deal to go get a bag of money from the feds to help pay for the initial set-up costs, although no one in America actually knows what those costs will be.  Within weeks, the Idaho Legislature will convene.  That body will have ample opportunity to review the governor's decision.  They will have to authorize the expenditure of public funds received from the Obama regime.  And they will probably have to create the legal framework for this undefined government expansion through legislation.

And then they will have the thorny problem of resolving the blatant conflict with Idaho's Health Freedom Act - signed into law by Governor Otter just two years ago.  That law actually makes it illegal for state and local officials to use their public offices to enforce any part of ObamaCare against an Idaho citizen or business.

Will there be an attempt to actually repeal this law?  Or will there be a slight of hand in which legislators are granted a clever legal pass by the Attorney General's office?

Needless to say, a great deal of intrigue lays ahead.  The opportunity for Idaho citizens to affect this great debate has by no means passed.  We will have much more to say about this matter in the days ahead.

Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter caves in for Obamacare run by Idaho

C.L. "BUTCH" OTTER
GOVERNOR

News Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 11, 2012
12:056

CONTACT: Jon Hanian
(208) 334-2100

GOVERNOR OPTS FOR STATE-BASED EXCHANGE

LEGISLATURE STILL MUST WEIGH IN ON HEALTH INSURANCE ISSUE

(BOISE) – Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter announced today that Idaho is opting for a state-based health insurance exchange under the terms of Obamacare, subject to legislative approval.

“This is not a battle of my choosing, but no one has fought harder against the mandates and overreaching federal authority of the Affordable Care Act. No one has more consistently and clearly demanded that Idaho retain the authority and flexibility to chart our own path forward. There was a judicial process for challenging Obamacare, and the presidential election was at least in part a referendum on its enactment. But despite our best efforts, the law remains in place, and almost certainly will for the foreseeable future. There will be a health insurance exchange in Idaho. The only question is who will build it.

Our options have come down to this: Do nothing and be at the federal government’s mercy in how that exchange is designed and run, or take a seat at the table and play the cards we’ve been dealt. I cannot willingly surrender a role for Idaho in determining the impact on our own citizens and businesses.

“This decision does not signal support for the law or how it is being implemented. However, it does reflect my continued determination for Idaho to be actively engaged in making the best possible choices – to the degree we are allowed – in the interest of more accessible and affordable health care for our citizens.

“Obamacare is not the answer. In fact, it very likely will do little or nothing to reduce costs while force-feeding us coverage and increasing the size and scope of government. But it is an unfortunate and unwelcome reality, and it would be irresponsible of me to simply abandon the field to federal bureaucrats. In the face of uncertainty we must assert our independence and our commitment to self-determination while fulfilling our responsibility to the rule of law.

“The working group I assembled to study our options recommended this response. I greatly appreciate and respect the members of that panel their analysis, both the majority and those in dissent. I also consulted with national experts, many of my fellow governors and our own legislative leaders. I understand and empathize with those who would reject a role in this process, as some other states have done. I know that for many this is not a matter of consensus but rather of individual conscience, and I know the earnest and well-intentioned debate will continue.

“I take some comfort in the fact that even those disagreeing with this decision strongly believe as I do in Idaho’s ability to be more responsive and do a better job than the federal government alone of ensuring our citizens can make informed choices about their health care.

“All the criticisms of the exchange mandate that I and many others have expressed remain valid and troubling. The law is governed by an evolving set of increasingly complex rules and requirements. It is onerous, unwieldy and fraught with unknowns. That makes it all the more important to remember that my decision today can be rescinded if the Legislature disagrees or withdrawn by me if circumstances warrant – a real possibility on such a constantly moving target. But with what we know today, this is our best option.”

Answers to frequently asked questions about the health insurance exchange (HIE) issue can be foundhere.

Expanding Covert Warfare Makes Us Less Safe

Lake Jackson, Texas

Earlier this month we learned that the Obama Administration is significantly expanding the number of covert Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) agents overseas. From just a few hundred DIA agents overseas today, the administration intends to eventually deploy some 1,600 covert agents. The nature of their work will also shift, away from intelligence collection and more toward covert actions. This move signals a major change in how the administration intends to conduct military and paramilitary operations overseas. Unfortunately it is not a shift toward peace, but rather to an even more deadly and disturbing phase in the “war on terror.”

Surely attacks on foreign countries will increase as a result of this move, but more and more the strikes will take place under cover of darkness and outside the knowledge of Congress or the American people. The move also represents a further blurring of the lines between the military and intelligence services, with the CIA becoming more like a secret military unto itself. This is a very troubling development. 
 
In 2010, I said in a speech that there had been a CIA coup in this country. The CIA runs the military, the drone program, and they are in drug trafficking. The CIA is a secretive government all on its own. With this new expanded Defense Intelligence Agency presence overseas it will be even worse. Because the DIA is operationally under control of the Pentagon, direct Congressional oversight of the program will be more difficult. Perhaps this is as intended. The CIA will be training the DIA in its facilities to conduct operations overseas. Much of this will include developing targeting data for the president’s expanding drone warfare program.
 
Already the president has demonstrated his preference for ever more drone attacks overseas. In Pakistan, for example, President Obama has in his first four years authorized six times more drone strikes than under all eight years of the Bush Administration. Nearly three thousand individuals have been killed by these drones, many of those non-combatants.
 
President Obama said recently of Israel’s strikes against the Palestinians in Gaza, "No country on Earth would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders.” This announcement by the administration amounts to precisely that: the US intends to rain down ever more missiles on citizens overseas. I believe what the president says about Israel is true everywhere, so what about those overseas who live in fear of our raining missiles? How will they feel about the United States? Is it not possible that we may be inviting more blowback by expanding the covert war overseas? Does that make us safer?
 
An exhaustive study earlier this year by Stanford and New York University law schools found that US drone strikes on Pakistan are “damaging and counterproductive,” potentially creating more terrorists than they kill. Its recommendations of a radical re-appraisal of the program obviously fell on deaf ears in the administration.
 
Thousands of new DIA spies are to be hired and placed undercover alongside their CIA counterparts to help foment ever more covert wars and coups in foreign lands. Congress is silent. Where will it all end?

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas

Who is Ron Paul?

Christianity Under Attack

Filer, Idaho

 All Christian celebrations and symbols are under attack as atheistic humanism is replacing Christianity as the religion of this country.  In the past 50 years we have seen a tremendous moral decline because of the unconstitutional humanist attack on our Christian heritage.  Our country is spiritually losing its soul.  Communist Vadimir Lenin said that Religion (Christianity) must be destroyed.  It is the opiate of the people he said.   Most great civilizations are destroyed from with by moral decay and socialism. Our country will be next unless Christians take a more active part in preserving our Christian heritage.

The Supreme Court in 1892 using 87 precedents to maintain the inclusion of Christian principles in our laws and institutions ruled that “...our institutions are emphatically Christian.”

A 1799 court declared: “The Christian religion is the established religion with all denominations

of Christians placed on the same equal footing.”

The Founding Fathers definitely wanted religion to be a part of government and

education. They stated that morality, religion and knowledge should be taught in schools!

They did not want a state church or denomination like the Anglican Church.

Actually the separation of religion and state is impossible.  Originally our laws were

moral laws based on The Ten Commandments representing a system of Christian morality.

The aggressive drive to remove all semblances of Christianity from our institutions,

under the guise of church-state separation, is actually being waged to establish humanism in its place.  Humanism teachings are the opposite of Biblical teachings. These include evolution, immorality, situation ethics, world government, and abortion.

The F.D.Roosevelt  liberal Supreme Court in 1947 took eight words out of context of an 1802 Thomas Jefferson letter to start the separation of church and state fraud.  The 1962 case

which removed school prayer was the first case in Court history to use zero precedents. Bible reading was removed in 1963.

The United States became the bastion of individual freedom because of its Christian

heritage in its institutions.  Now we are close to losing that freedom as we adopt atheistic

humanism as the religion of the nation.  Our Godly heritage can be verified at www.wallbuilders.com.

            Christian friends please get more involved to save our country’s soul and our freedom.

A concerned citizen,

Adrian L. Arp, Ph.D. 

MAKING THE MOST OUT OF THANKSGIVING

Santa Clara, California

The weeks surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas should be a special time of togetherness for family. It should be a time of creating special memories as we take the time to reflect on the goodness of God. Thankfulness is lost in our country. People seldom take the time to write a note of gratitude to anyone. We send a text message and believe that to be a sufficient show of our gratitude. We have become so “frugal” that we won’t spend the money for a stamp, and yet we have all the latest technology. I think Thanksgiving has become, in the last several years, the forgotten holiday.

We need to cut through the busyness of the holiday season and capture the true meaning of Thanksgiving. If we are not careful, we will get so caught up in the “hustle and bustle”that we forget what matters most. Listed below are just a few ways in which you can make the Thanksgiving holiday meaningful.

• Beginning November 1st, take the time to write a note to someone or tell them personally how thankful you are for them and why.
• Have your children memorize a poem or passage of Scripture that focuses on being thankful.
• Make a “blessing box.” List all of the blessings you have received as a family during the year, and on Thanksgiving Day have each family member pull out a blessing and read it out loud.
• Have each member in the family take the time to write a personal list of what they are thankful for. As our Pastor says, “If you don’t think you won’t thank.”
• Have craft time for your children. They can color or make a special placemat to be used on Thanksgiving Day for their place at the table.
• Bake something for your neighbors and have your children deliver it to them with a special note of gratitude.
• Have your children write a paragraph using the words thanks, thankful, and thankfulness as many times as possible.
• Remember someone in the military with a care package. There are men and women serving so that we can have a restful, worshipful holiday.
• Seize every teachable moment during the holiday season. Everyone should know why we are celebrating Thanksgiving and the true meaning of the day.
• Spend time as a family decorating the house for the holidays. Pass down the holiday traditions that mean so much to your family. When I walk into our married daughters’ homes, I am so thankful that they have learned to make their homes a special haven for their families during the holiday season—a place where each member of the family longs to be.
• Invite a guest or two to share in your Thanksgiving dinner. Someone in your church is lonely and would love to share Thanksgiving in a festive home. Look around you at church and see if you can be a blessing to someone on this special day of the year.
• Remember your church with a Thanksgiving offering. Each member of the family should contribute something from their “bank” to place in the offering plate during the Thanksgiving service.
• Take time to share the gospel during the holidays. If we as Christians do not reach out to a lost and dying world, who will? Remember, you might be the only Bible some people will ever read.

Whatever your family’s traditions might be, try to make some time this season to slow down and enjoy restful time together as a family. In the midst of all that takes place during this time of the year, we can easily forget why we’re celebrating in the first place.

As I write this article I am especially thankful for all of the members that make up the North Valley Baptist Church! Our journey here at North Valley has been nothing short of a blessing and something that we are very grateful for at this Thanksgiving season. Some of you have been with us from our first day here and for that Pastor and I will forever be grateful. We cherish and love each one of you!

Happy THANKSgiving!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cindie Trieber has served the people of North Valley Baptist Church for more than three decades as the Pastor’s Wife. She teaches in the college and is a godly mother and “Nana." She recently completed her first book entitled With All My Heart.

Headed Toward the 11th Hour Compromise

Lake Jackson, Texas

As the year draws to an end, America faces yet another Congressionally - manufactured crisis which will likely end in yet another 11^th hour compromise, resulting in more government growth touted as “saving” the economy.  While cutting taxes is always a good idea, setting up a ticking time bomb with a sunset provision, as the Bush tax cuts did, is terrible policy.  Congress should have just cut taxes.  But instead, we have a crisis that is sure not to go to waste. 

The hysteria surrounding the January 1 deadline for the Budget Control Act’s spending cuts and expiration of the Bush tax cuts seems all too familiar.  Even the language is predictably hysterical: if government reduces planned spending increases by even a tiny amount, the economy will go over a “fiscal cliff.”  This is nonsense.

This rhetoric is based on the belief that government spending sustains the economy, when in fact the opposite is true.  Every dollar the government spends is a dollar taken from consumers, businessmen, or investors. Reducing spending can only help the economy by putting money back in the hands of ordinary Americans.  Politicians who claim to support the free market and the lower and middle-class should take this to heart. 

The reality is, however, that neither Republicans nor Democrats are serious about cutting spending. Even though U.S. military spending is exponentially larger than any other country and is notorious for its inefficiency and cost overruns, Republicans cannot seem to stomach even one penny of cuts to the Pentagon’s budget.  This is unfortunate because this is the easiest, most obvious place to start getting spending under control.  The military-industrial complex and unconstitutional overseas military interventions should be the first place we look for budget cuts. 

Similarly, Democrats are digging in their heels on not cutting any welfare or entitlement spending and instead propose to fix the deficit by raising taxes on the rich, even though the U.S. Government already has a progressive tax code and the rich already pay more than their fair share. Furthermore, these higher taxes would fall on small business owners, investors, and entrepreneurs—in other words, the source of economic growth and new jobs!

The truth is that there is no excuse for government spending being as high as it is, nor for taxes being as high as they are.  Even the God of the Old Testament only asked for 10% as a tithe and offering, and Americans revolted against the King of England for taxes that amounted to less than five percent.  Yet so many people today complain about “loopholes” for the rich that lower their actual tax rate to “only” 13% in some instances.  Even that is a criminal amount to pay for a wasteful, abusive, unconstitutional government. 

We are indeed headed to a fiscal cliff and have been long before this latest hysteria cropped up.  But it is not cuts to spending or reduced government “revenue” that will send us over the cliff, it is continued government spending that will.  Until the federal government limits itself to its Constitutionally-mandated role, spending and taxation will remain out of control.

Look for a “bipartisan” compromise in late December, with Republicans giving in to tax increases and settling for phony spending cuts that actually grow government, and Democrats caving on defense cuts in exchange for tax increases.  This is how the government has always grown: both sides will sacrifice their pro-liberty, small government stances in certain areas in order to grow the government where they prefer. 

Liberty always loses in the 11^th hour.

Congressman Ron Paul of Texas

Who is Ron Paul?

FBI Laboratory Celebrates 80 Years of Excellence

fbi.gov

Sleuths of Science
The FBI Laboratory Turns 75

Yesterday and Today: Our first crime lab, shown here in the early 1930s, was located in a single room. Today's FBI Laboratory is housed in a state-of-the-art building in Quantico, Virginia.

11/02/07

Breaking secret codes. Uncovering nearly invisible fingerprints. Matching tiny paint chips to a hit-and-run driver’s car. Comparing countless handwriting samples to find that one check forger. Peering into the nucleus of a cell to determine guilt or innocence. Linking exploded bomb fragments to terrorists. Analyzing the splatter of blood at a crime scene.

It’s all in a day’s work for the men and women of the FBI Laboratory, who have been using science to solve crimes for three quarters of a century now.

Cryptanalysis, the art and science of breaking secret codes and ciphers, has been around for some four centuries.

A Lab is born. It was 75 years ago this month—on November 24, 1932, officially—that we launched our first technical crime lab, the forerunner of today’s FBI Laboratory. It started small: a single agent, in a single room, with some basic equipment and supplies. Today, it’s a full-service operation, with some 500 scientific experts and special agents working in a state-of-the-art, standalone building in rural Virginia, traveling the world over on assignment when needed and leading highly trained teams of specialists across the nation.

What has 75 years wrought? A ton of solved crimes, for starters. And plenty of important contributions in plenty of famous cases—the “Nazi Saboteurs”, the assassinations of President Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, the bombing of Pan Am 103, the “Falcon and the Snowman” espionage case, the 9/11 investigation, to name just a few. Not to mention a lot of innovative research and training that has lifted all boats in the law enforcement and criminal justice communities.

That’s really just the beginning of the story. We have a great deal more information on the FBI Laboratory on this website—including some brand new material—that we invite you to explore.

• Check out our newly redesigned and updated FBI Laboratory website, covering the gamut of work done by our Lab professionals, from our evidence response experts to our HAZMAT teams.
• For a soup to nuts history, see The FBI Laboratory: 75 Years of Forensic Science Service by the managing editor of Forensic Science Communications (itself a service of the Lab). The recent article includes our role in many major cases and a number of historic photos.
• How did the Lab get started? See The Birth of the FBI’s Technical Laboratory: 1924 to 1935 to find out.
• For a brief chronology, take a look at the newly posted list of major Lab milestones.

• 	Here, an infrared photograph reveals the contents of a stained suicide note.

  Here, an infrared photograph reveals the contents of a stained suicide note.
• It was the young Lab’s first major case: the kidnapping of the infant son of the famed aviator Charles Lindbergh. Check out the ransom note!
• A fun “who ‘dunnit case” from our files: Did You Ever See a Shoe Trap a Burglar?
• Sometimes the best evidence is buried at the bottom of the ocean. Read all about our “dive teams.”
• The tiniest of clues—shards of glass, strands of hair and fur, paint chips, soil clods, feathers, rocks and minerals, building materials of all kinds—often make the biggest difference in a case. Learn about our Trace Evidence experts.

Later this month, we’ll test your ability to crack a basic cipher.